


Louie's First Power

by AU_Ruler



Series: Charmed Cousins [1]
Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017), PKNA - Paperinik New Adventures
Genre: Charmed AU, Honorary Duck Family Member Webby Vanderquack, Kidnapped, Whumptober 2020, adhd dewey, adhd webby, charmed cousins, duck cousins as charmed ones, duno is very briefly mentioned, fairy lyla lay, if anyone wants to guess, lets see who can guess which charmed one each cousin is, mentioned whitelighter uno, no.2, whitelighter webby, witch donald, witch fethry, witch gladstone, witch hdl
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:41:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26776810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AU_Ruler/pseuds/AU_Ruler
Summary: Huey, Dewey, Louie, and Webby get taken. As the cousins work to save them, two surprises await the kids.
Relationships: Dewey Duck & Donald Duck & Huey Duck & Louie Duck, Dewey Duck & Donald Duck & Huey Duck & Louie Duck & Webby Vanderquack, Dewey Duck & Huey Duck & Louie Duck & Webby Vanderquack, Donald Duck & Fethry Duck & Gladstone Gander, Louie Duck & Gladstone Gander
Series: Charmed Cousins [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1952158
Comments: 6
Kudos: 37
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	Louie's First Power

“How could you let them out of your sight?” Donald yelled at Gladstone. Fear clogged his throat. De ja vu from more than eleven years ago dogged him. He’d lost his sister once. If the kids- He couldn’t do that. Not again.

“Donald, please,” Fethry looked at him with a frown, worry creasing his brow. He held Donald’s sleeve in his hand. The grasp was tight, but Donald had a feeling the grip wasn’t to keep him there. “You know Gladstone wouldn't purposely put the kids in danger.”

“They're  _ eleven _ , Don!” Gladstone said. He stepped out for just a minute or two. It wasn't like it was even their first time being completely alone. The four had gone on plenty of adventures, both in and out of the house. Something they'd done as kids too. “Plenty old enough to watch themselves for a few minutes!”

“Plenty old- They're  _ witches _ a year into their first powers! You know how many demons came after us when our powers manifested!” Donald said.

“Yeah, cause we're the  _ chosen ones _ , they're not,” Gladstone said. But Donald was right and the cold slab of ice that'd been making his way through his heart shoved deeper. Chosen or not, it didn’t matter. Demons stole witches. They  _ killed _ witches.

“Then why aren't they here?!” Donald said. He gestured around the room. “Where were you when my kids got taken?!”

Gladstone held up the tray in his hands. “Getting snacks!”

“And you didn’t  _ hear them _ ?”

“No, I didn’t! The kitchen’s kinda far away and  _ demons don’t always make a lot of noise _ !”

“They make enough,” Donald growled, arms crossing over his chest.

“Well I’m sorry my ears aren’t pitch-perfect  _ attuned _ like yours,” Gladstone said.

“Couldn’t your  luck have done anything?” Donald snapped.

“You know I don’t control that!” Gladstone snapped back.

“Gladstone.” Fethry desperately tried to calm his cousins. Their worry and panic and anger grew, crowding the room. It broke past his mental barrier. Threatened to overtake him. The yells got louder till Fethry broke. “Guys!”

Both Donald and Gladstone turned to him, blinking in surprise. Fethry let go of Donald to pull at the sleeve of his hoodie. Voice significantly quieter than just a second ago. “Maybe we should scry for them?”

Donald took a breath. Then another and another. Fethry was right, this wouldn’t do anything for his kids. Right now they should scry. He could yell at Gladstone later. “Alright.”

The three of them walked up the stairs and through a short hallway to get to the room the map was. Well,  _ maps _ . Uncle Scrooge traveled a lot. Gladstone lingered slightly behind them. He didn't want to be right with them. Not with Donald as angry as he was.

Donald’s barb about his luck had hurt. It was always good, but he had no  _ control _ over it. He was just a rider on the luck coaster. A skydiver with no parachute. A passenger trapped in a plane controlled by a crazy person with no way off. Only knowing that no matter what happens, he'll  _ survive _ . Sure he might get injured. But he'd live.

Even if the others don't.

Only Fethry looked up when he finally entered the room. Donald already had a map out, crystal and Webby’s bow in hand. The crystal turned in lazy circles above it. Gladstone didn't say anything. He just leaned against one of the wooden shelves that housed all the maps, arms crossed over his chest, and watched. Out of the other’s way.

For a time it continued like that. The crystal turned in a circle as Donald let it drift over the map. Suddenly it dropped. Together Donald and Fethry looked down at the map. The kids were still in Duckburg, thankfully. Though it was the other side of Duckburg. In an area Donald remembered being mostly empty. Old buildings and street lamps that haven’t lit in years.

Webby was the first awake. She blinked hard and her head felt funny, like she'd been hit with drugs or something stronger. Magic. A  _ bat _ . Her hands were against her back. Around her wrists was the cold sting of metal. Testing the material, she gave a tug and heard the gain noise of a chain rattle. Handcuffs. She tried to orb away but nothing happened. Tried a second time with identical results.  _ Magic  _ handcuffs. That meant they wouldn't be going anywhere soon. Unless she could pick the lock. As she tried to remove the pin from her hair, she glanced around the room. It was small and dark. The walls were concrete. There were some patches in the ceiling and she could hear a drip in the one corner. The boys were with her but they were all still asleep. Louie was in a corner of his own. Separate from the dripping one.

The pin wasn’t coming out. Whoever grabbed them had put her arms in a position that made it very difficult to grab it without dislocating a shoulder. So she scooted herself closer to Dewey and kicked him. It took two good ones but he woke with a full body jolt.

“ _ What _ , Hu-” Dewey groaned before Webby came into focus. “Webby? Did we have a room sleepover and I forgot?”

“ _ Sh _ ,” Webby shushed him lowly before using her head to gesture around the room. There was no telling who could be listening. Or  _ what _ .

Dewey’s eyes widened as he looked around. But thankfully he kept his voice down. “Where are we?”

Webby shrugged. They’d all been knocked out before they were moved. Her best guess was an abandoned building. That’s where kidnappers and murderers always seemed to bring their victims in the crime shows she watched with Granny. “Could you turn around and get the pin out of my hair?”

“Why do you want to mess with your hair at a time like this?” Dewey asked her with a frown. When she just gave him a look in response, his eyes lightened. “Oh!”

They turned their backs to each other and Webby slid down until Dewey could reach the bow in her hair. It took him a minute and a bit of painful hair pulling, but he eventually retrieved the pin from her locks. A noise sounded through the building when he tried to pass it to her. It dropped between them. He quickly turned back around. She scooted up to sit on the pin. Seconds later a door slammed closed. Not the one to their room, but one somewhere close.

“Are you sure this is gonna work, Bigtime?” A deep voice asked. Webby gasped. Dewey looked over at her but she just shook her head.

“‘Course I’m sure!” A second voice, presumably Bigtime, answered. “Ma put me in charge for a reason, din’t she?”

“Well, I s’pose so,” the deeper voice responded.

“‘ _ Course she did _ !” the second voice returned angrily. There was a sound like pain from the deeper one. Then it went quiet again, outside of the rapid approach of footsteps. Webby looked over at Dewey and gestured frantically with her head. The door slid open just as they slumped to the ground.

For minutes Webby just lied there and breathed. Small, shallow breaths through her nose. Dust covered the floor. A thick layer of it. She really hoped Dewey didn’t have dust allergies. At the moment she’d rather not confront their captors. Not while they were all powerless.

Eventually Bigtime grunted. The door reopened, footsteps trailed out of it, and it closed again. Webby stayed on the floor for another minute. Footsteps continued, getting quieter and quieter. Then they were gone. She sat up and whispered to Dewey. “It’s safe.”

“Do you know who they were?” Dewey asked Webby as he struggled back to a sitting position.

“The beagle boys,” Webby said. “They’re a group of close knit demons-”

“Wait did you say  _ demons _ ?” Louie’s voice joined the conversation with a whisper so harsh it barely qualified as a ‘whisper’.

“Yes,” Webby said, turning her head to him. “Don’t worry, they probably won’t kill us. They’ll just use us to lure in your uncles. Or try to turn us evil. Or take our powers.” She listed as she tried to grab the pin from the floor.

“Those sound worrying!” Louie matched her quietness now, though his tone wasn’t calm like her’s. He got his knees under him to try to crawl closer to his siblings but was stopped. After another failed tug he looked behind himself. On his wrists were ropes. Those he’d already felt. But attached to those ropes was a much longer rope, connected to a loop on the wall. “Oh come on,” Louie complained.

“What’s wrong?” Huey asked him. Instead of answering, Louie only moved his arms. It made the loop give a quiet jangle against the wall.

“Why am I the only one connected to the wall?” Louie asked in a hiss.

His siblings looked at each other and shrugged. “You’re the only one without powers,” Dewey said and Louie frowned at him.

“He’s got a point,” Webby agreed.

“I know that!” Louie said, back to that harsh whisper. His voice lowered again before he added on, “It’s not my fault I didn’t get dumb magical powers.”

“Technically you can still scry and do spells,” Huey said.

Louie rolled his eyes. “That’s not the same and you know it.” It wasn’t. And Huey did know that. He’d only wanted to make Louie feel better.

“So how are we getting out of here?”

“Well, once I,” Webby cut herself off. There was no keyhole. There was no  _ keyhole _ in her cuffs. She couldn’t pick them if they didn’t have a keyhole!

“Webby? What’s wrong?” Huey asked.

She squirmed some, feeling around once more for what she’d already discovered wouldn't be there. Just to be sure. She  _ had _ to be sure. Eventually she deflated. Shoulders dipping as she released the pin. “There's no keyhole.”

“ _ What _ ?” Huey asked. Voice high and pitchy. Eyes wide, Webby shushed him. They couldn't be heard trying to escape.

“There's no keyhole,” Webby repeated, pointedly making her voice quieter. Quality raspy in its low volume.

“What does that mean?” Dewey asked, drawing her attention.

“It means,” Webby trailed. It means she let her siblings down. It means she let Granny down. How could she be a good whitelighter in the future if she couldn't even save her family from a kidnapping  _ now _ ?

“Webby?”

Weby blinked. She’d been too in her head to register which triplet spoke. But when she looked around, all three had their eyes trained on her. Right. If she was lost, they were doubly so. Afterall, she’d grown up training for situations like these. They hadn’t. So she took a breath. “It means we can’t get them off.”

“What?” Dewey looked worried and Webby saw his shoulders move as he tried to pry his hands further apart.

“Well, we’re dead,” Louie said from his corner.

“Don’t worry,” Webby said. “We’ll figure something out.”

“Well, the Junior Woodchuck book-” Huey started before getting cut off.

“Won’t help us in this situation!”

It wasn’t a magical book or anything. Just a plain boy scouts manual with too many pages and too small of words. “You’d be surprised how helpful it can be in stressful situations,” Huey defended his book, eyes closed and beak raised.

Louie scoffed.

“Well it helps me!” Huey snapped quietly.

“Alright, fine,” Louie said.

“So what does your book have to say about getting  _ kidnapped by demons _ ?” Dewey asked.

“Well, nothing,” Huey said. “But I’m sure  _ something _ in here can be applied to our current situation.” He started wracking his brain, trying to think of  _ something _ .  _ Anything _ . All of the information he ever needed was in this book. Finally he remembered something. He snapped his fingers. “To survive a kidnapping we should humaize ourselves to the kidnappers.”

“Oh, sure, a couple of witches we’ll just get right on humanizing ourselves to our kidnappers. Oh, wait. They're  _ demons _ !” If Louie could, he would cross his arms. Right now all he could do was pointedly scoot backwards to slump against the wall. “You guys have fun with that, I'm taking a nap.”

“Louie, you can't just fall asleep on us  _ now _ ,” Webby said.

“Oh, yeah? Watch me.” And with that Louie closed his eyes. He shimmed till he could get his hoodie over his head then let his head prop against the wall.

Dewey sucked air in through his teeth. “We're not getting to him now.”

“What?” Webby asked, looking between her other two brothers.

“Louie can pretty much fall asleep on command,” Huey said.

“And there's no getting to him once he's in his hoodie,” Dewey said, shaking his head.

“But that's okay, we don't need him!” Huey said with conviction. “We can convince those demons that we're just kids they can trust without Louie’s help or any of his schemes.” As he spoke, his conviction began to waver. Each word falling slowly like water from an icicle. The conviction fizzling out of every syllable.

All three siblings shared a worried look.

Pinpricks of distress lit up Lyla’s brain. Fast and panicked. A shockwave that fizzled across her brain. Donald. There had only been a handful of times she'd gotten distress like this from him. Sometimes when he slept. Nightmares from losing his sister, no doubt. The others were when the kids were in danger. The cousins came next, their own forms of distress. One more subtle than the other. Minutes later more came, one after the other, heavy and sluggish. It had to be the kids. They felt like they were just waking up.

She flew with all haste to Scrooge’s mansion. Something had happened but she wouldn’t know what it was until she saw them. And no matter how much she concentrated, she couldn’t get a lock on the kids. Her only hope was that the Charmed Ones had figured out where they were. From there she could easily reach the kids before them.

The window in the triplet’s bedroom was open and she flew through it. The cousins were in the kitchen. It sounded like they were having a fight. She could hear it from the hallway. Not very clear. But she knew the voices. Donald and Gladstone. Lyla sighed to herself. They loved each other, but they could really butt heads. Odin told her it was worse when they were younger. Over the years Donald’s temper had gotten better. A  _ lot _ better.

“Shouldn't we get Mrs. Beakley to help?” Fethry asked as she creaked the door open just enough to slip through. She was invisible to them since they were adults and she was in her small fairy form. But they’d still notice a door opening. Maybe. Donald was hovering over a pot. Fethry and Gladstone were on the other side of the island, Gladstone just standing there as Fethry grabbed stuff from the cabinets.

“She's a whitelighter. Whitelighters don't exactly  _ fight _ ,” Donald said, not looking up from the potion he was stirring.

“Didn't Odin fight sometimes?” Gladstone asked.

Donald’s jaw clenched. It almost sounded like his beak creaked. Even now Odin was still very much a sore subject. In the eleven years Lyla’d watched them, he was barely ever brought up. Especially in Donald’s company. Odin’d only ever told her what happened between them when he’d first requested she watch the cousins and Della’s children. Though she had a feeling he didn’t tell her everything. Their separation was rough for both of them. The years hadn’t made it any less raw. It was obvious to her they’d had and still had feelings for each other.

She shook her head, removing those thoughts for now. Instead of staying for the fallout she flew carefully back out the door. Knowing Donald, he’d hurried to the kitchen after learning where they were. Which meant the crystal likely still sat in the spot the kids were.

The door to the map room was still open. Swung wide on its hinges. A map of Duckburg was on the table, it’s edges curling up. Except on one side where the crystal held it down. Lyla smiled to herself. Just as she’d expected they hadn’t cleaned up at all. Now she knew right where to go.

It felt like only seconds had passed between closing his eyes and opening them. Louie groaned internally. Maybe if he just closed them again he could go back to sleep. It was better than being awake and panicking. He absently ran a hand under his hood. His siblings were quietly talking amongst themselves.

Huey looked up briefly before doing a double take. Without taking his eyes off him, he nodded toward Louie to get Dewey and Webby to look as well. Their eyes widened when they did. Louie frowned. “What?”

“Louie, there are  _ two _ of you,” Huey said slowly.

Louie rolled his eyes. “I think you mean ‘three’.”

“No, I mean  _ two _ .” Huey pointed behind him. Louie turned around. And screamed as he saw his body, slumped against the wall. He fell backward and scooted back to his siblings. “It’s okay, it’s okay. You’re still breathing. It’s probably just astral projection like Uncle Gladstone.”

“Right,” Louie said, voice wavering a bit.

To Louie’s side, Webby gasped. “Your first power!”

Louie gave a strained laugh. Of course it was. Because he couldn’t gain his first power at the house like his brothers. No, he had to be kidnapped.

Footsteps thumped down the hall again. All of them looked at each other with wide eyes. One of them must’ve heard Louie’s scream.

“You have to go back!” Webby said.

“I don’t know how!”

The doorknob rattled as the Beagle Boy unlocked the door. Louie looked frantically between the door and his body. His hood was still over his head and he played with the strings. Pulling it more and more closed.

“Lou,” Huey bumped his back with his foot. It kicked Louie out of the spiral. And he took an involuntary breath. “Breathe. Close your eyes and just imagine yourself back.”

Louie knitted his eyebrows. But he did what Huey said. His eyes closed. The doorknob jiggled some more. He just wanted to be back in his body. There was a noise from Webby. A soft ‘you did it’ from Huey. His eyes opened. Immediately he felt tired. Not too tired, but  _ tired _ . Just a second later the door swung open. All four siblings looked toward it.

There was a large beagle there, practically taking up the whole space. He had a red shirt and a mask. “What was that scream?”

“ _ Dew _ n’t worry. That was just our little bro. He was just so excited .“ Dewey said, gesturing with his head toward Louie. “Right, Louie?”

“Yeah!” Louie smiled. “Did you tie this? Excellent job. Though will say, rope’s a  _ little _ scratchy.”

“And the handcuffs, smart touch,” Huey added.

The giant demon shook his head. “Those were Bigtime.”He’s the leader.”

“Then who are you?” Louie asked. “ _ I'm _ Louie. These are my siblings, Huey, Dewey, and Webby.” He pointed to each one in turn.

The demon’s eyebrows lowered. Louie couldn't really tell if it was suspicious or not. Either way, he answered. “I'm Bouncer.”

“Bouncer, neat name,” Louie said. “Well, like I said, rope’s a little scratchy. Is there anything you’d be able to do about that?”

“Uh…” Bouncer looked at Louie’s innocent eyes and slightly pouted lip. “I’ll ask Bigtime about it.”

“Thanks, I’d really appreciate it,” Louie said.

With that, Bouncer nodded and left. Everyone held their breath for a few minutes as his footsteps retreated. Then they let it out collectively. After another minute Dewey turned to Louie.

“How’d you do that?” Webby asked.

Louie shrugged. “I didn't want to be tied up anymore.”

“So you separated from your body?” Dewey said.

“I didn’t mean to!” Louie said.

Lyla waited in the corner closest to the door, listening to their voices. ‘Separated from your body’. It had to be astral projection; like his one uncle. That could be helpful in getting them out of here. Though first she had to figure out how to reveal herself. This is one situation she couldn’t just watch from the in between. She flew closer.

Webby blinked. Her eyes got sparkly, diamonds floating in the corners. “A fairy! I  _ knew _ there was one watching us!”

“Sh sh sh,” Lyla waved her hands in front of her. “I’m a close friend of your father’s old whitelighter.”

“Our father?”

“Donald Duck.”

Webby gasped. “You know Uno?!”

“Yes,” Lyla nodded. “But now’s not the time for that. I have an idea to get you out of here.”

“And why should we trust you?” Louie asked, tilting his head and narrowing his eyes suspiciously.

“Because it’s trust me or stay with the demons,” Lyla said frankly.

“You know, she makes a good point,” Dewey said.

“Webby?” Huey turned to their sister. “You know the most about this stuff.”

“Fairies are good but mischievous. They live in the in between and can’t be seen by adults,” Webby said.

“But can they be trusted?”

She looked over to the small fairy. The fairy fluttered between them and Louie. Her hair was up in a bun, a circlet of flowers wrapped around her brow. Red blurred as her wings kept in constant motion. The dress she wore swirled in the wind her wings created. “Yes.”

The triplets still looked unsure, but they each nodded in turn. “Alright,” Huey said. “What did you have in mind?”

Donald split the potion into four different bottles. One went to Fethry, two he kept, and one he held out for Gladstone. Instead of reaching for it, Gladstone just blinked at the small glass bottle. “What?”

“Your luck didn't keep the kids from getting taken, but maybe it'll help us get them back,” Donald said.

With a frown Gladstone took the potion. It was an olive branch. In Donald’s own still-upset way. He didn’t think Donald would want him to help rescue the kids. Apparently his luck overshadowed Donald’s anger. Gladstone sighed. “Alright.”

The plan was the same it’d been back when they were younger. Just, less explosive then it would’ve been with Della there. They’d walk in, Donald would freeze the demons, and Gladstone and Fethry would throw the vanquishing potions that would make the demons return to their own realm. Somewhere in all that Donald’s bad luck might get them in trouble. Or Fethry’s clumsiness might do something. Or Gladstone’s good luck might cause  _ something  _ to happen. With the three of them there was no telling. Whatever happened, they’d get the kids back. Gladstone’s hand closed more tightly around the bottle.  _ Together _ .

Fethry and Gladstone piled into the car with Donald at the wheel. They didn’t take a map. Donald must’ve still known the way. Before they’d left Gladstone had taken a look at the map. It wasn’t an area  _ he  _ really recognized. The only way he knew it was because of that one time Fethry and him had followed Donald and Della when they snuck out to practice their powers. It was somewhere empty and so on the edge of Duckburg no one ever went there. Which was why Donald and Della, especially Della, practiced there. He doubted that’d changed over the decades. Except for the possible rare teen.

The whole drive Donald seemed tense. Gladstone knew Fethry could sense it. Heck, he could sense it and he wasn’t the empath. Of course Donald had always been easy to read. Since they were kids he’d been very heart-on-his-sleeve. Age had not taken that from him. Having kids had made it softer. But it didn’t remove it and Gladstone had literal decades of experience. Fethry shifted in his seat next to Donald more than he usually did. He should’ve taken the passenger seat instead of Fethry. But it was too late for that. Also, he had the distinct feeling Donald was still upset at him and it was better for Donald (and his own safety) for him to sit in the back.

To Gladstone it felt like it took two hours to get there. But he kept an eye on his watch (Donald’s car clock was perpetually wrong). According to that, it’d only taken half an hour.

“Are you going to be okay, Louie?” Huey asked.

Louie waved it away. “What? Of course, I’m just gonna be sneaking past a demon using a power I don’t fully know how to control. I’ll be fine!” He laughed awkwardly and Huey frowned. Before Huey could say anything, Webby perked up.

“It’s time.”

Everyone held their breath as they listened. Footsteps echoed down the hall once again. They were different from Bouncer’s. Quieter through the door. It was one of the others. But there was no way to tell if it was Bigtime or the other demon. Not until the door opened.

Louie bit his beak. He'd have to purposely activate his power. After only having it for maybe a few minutes. Not even  _ Huey _ could control his power the second time he used it. Of course, they weren't asking him to control it. Not exactly. Just to activate it. He shifted against the ropes.

“You can do it, Louie,” Huey said and Louie looked over at his siblings.

“Yeah, Lou!” Dewey agreed with a smile. Even Lyla gave an encouraging nod from her place flitting next to him.

“Just close your eyes and desire to get out of the ropes,” Huey said. Louie nodded and took a breath before closing his eyes. He shifted again. The ropes dug into his feathers. Nothing was happening. And the footsteps were growing closer. With an angry sigh he opened his eyes.

“Nothing's  _ happening _ .”

“Close them again,” Huey said. “You can do this. Why don't you want to be there?”

“The ropes are scratchy. I’m hungry. We're trapped by  _ demons _ ,” Demons that will probably kill them. Unless he could activate his new power. Louie clenched his eyes shut and took another breath. He just wanted  _ out _ . Suddenly he felt weightless. Just for a moment. Then he was solid and when he shifted there was no itchy rope. His eyes opened.

In front of him his siblings were smiling. Behind him, his body slumped against the wall like it was asleep. Louie looked back at them with his own smile. Then the door started to creak. Lyla moved quickly, covering him with fairy dust so he could move unseen.

The third demon in the group entered the room. He was tall and lean and slouched. There was a platter of food in his hands.

“You're not Bouncer,” Webby said.

The demon shook his head. Then he gestured to where Louie’s body was.

“He’s asleep!” Huey said.

“Yeah,” Dewey said. “Very tired, very deep sleeper. He’ll be out for another hour at least.”

He frowned, but the demon didn’t say or do anything else. Instead he just placed the platter by Huey, Dewey, and Webby’s feet. The platter had four wrapped burgers on it as well as fries scattered across the wooden surface. Their wrappers said they were from Hamburger Hippo. With that he went to leave. Behind him the door moved slightly.

“What happened to Bouncer?” Dewey asked quickly.

The demon turned to look at Dewey. He didn’t say anything. Instead he just shook his head.

“Can you speak?” Webby asked him.

Again, he shook his head.

Oh. The three looked at each other. None of them knew sign. It didn’t matter anymore, though. There had already been a flash of light in the doorway, a sign from Lyla that Louie had made it out. They didn’t have to distract the demon further. With no one saying anything else, the demon turned and left.

The door locked behind him. Now it was up to Louie.

Lyla and Louie walked through the building. It was smaller than the room made Louie think. But it wasn’t terribly small. As they walked down a hallway Louie looked into different rooms through large windows. An old strip mall, it had to be. Like the one a few miles from the house they used to live in. Before they moved in with Uncle Scrooge.

In one of the rooms was Bouncer and another demon Louie assumed was Bigtime. Especially with the way the demon seemed to look down on Bouncer, even though he was sitting and Bouncer wasn’t. Shortly after they passed that room Lyla let him know the invisibility wore off. Now he’d have to be more careful. Lyla assured him the door to outside was close. But if any of the demons happened to see him, he and his siblings would be in trouble. Louie took a shaky breath.

Opening the door to the outside was the most nerveracking part of the whole situation. It only doubled when he came face-to-chest with someone. His heart rate peaked dangerously. He just barely bit back a scream. Webby had said they traveled in threes! Frantically he pushed at the body he’d run into. Hands grabbed his forearms. The body dropped.

“ _ -ouie!  _ Louie! You’re okay,” a voice filtered through and Louie opened his eyes to see his Uncle Donald in front of him. Immediately Louie fell boneless into his arms. Both Uncle Gladstone and Uncle Fethry went to either side of Uncle Donald.

Louie wrapped a hand around Uncle Donald’s arm, suddenly feeling much more tired. It felt like his body pulled at him. “We’re trapped in a backroom,” Louie pushed himself from Uncle Donald to say. “The others have magic handcuffs.”

“Magic handcuffs?  _ We _ ?” Uncle Donald asked, confused.

“He’s not actually here,” Uncle Gladstone said almost absently. A smile curved his beak. Something disbelieving. “He’s astral projecting.”

Uncle Donald blinked down at him. “Really?”

He nodded tiredly. Uncle Gladstone ruffled Louie’s hair. “We got it. Now head back, you’re getting too tired to keep this up.” Again Louie nodded. There was a brief pink flash. Then Louie was opening his eyes, back in the room with his siblings. His body felt heavy. In a way it hadn’t since their first sleepover with Webby where she made them stay up the whole night.

“Louie!” Huey said. “What happened?”

“Tired,” Louie groaned. He’d never known that Uncle Gladstone’s power was so  _ draining _ . Then he smiled. “They’re here.”

The others lit up. “Uncle Donald?”

He nodded softly. “And Uncle Gladstone and Uncle Fethry.”

Donald’s arms fell to his sides after Louie disappeared. For a minute he stared at the door. Then a small smile started to curl his beak, identical to Gladstone’s own small disbelieving smile. “He finally got his power.”

Normally witches got their powers in their tenth year, sometime after their birthday. But Della and Dewey- always so much like his mother- got theirs when they were nine. Huey got his a month after their tenth birthday. And now Louie finally had his. At eleven, just like Donald. Slowly he stood. He let out a brief laugh. “Of course he’d get one of yours,” Donald said.

“Yeah,” Gladstone replied, knowing now he’d been forgiven for losing the kids. “Let’s go get them.”

Donald nodded and opened the door. After a brief look back, he entered. Gladstone followed immediately. Fethry breathed a sigh of relief as the tension between his cousins faded and followed behind them.

The hallway was quiet. They hadn’t been able to ask Louie what type of creature took them, so they were still only guessing. All three stepped quietly on the concrete floor. Donald kept his eyes on the windows the passed. Every room was empty. Up to about the middle room. He stopped suddenly and Gladstone bumped into his back with Fethry bumping into Gladstone’s. Before Gladstone said anything, he put his hand up. He pointed into the room with a finger to his bill. Then he turned back to the room, gesturing toward the demons with both hands. The three froze when he did.

Gladstone hummed. “That was easy.”

“Yeah,” Donald nodded.

Fethry broke away from the group. He entered the tiny room, staying farther from the demons. All three had red shirts and black fur around their eyes like masks. He poked his head back out the door. “Beagle boys.”

Donald sighed. “Of course.”

“You wanna send them back to their Ma, Don?” Gladstone asked.

He raised one of his bottles of potion.

“You first, Feathers,” Gladstone said, motioning toward the demons.

With a nod, Fethry backed back into the room and took out the bottle of potion. He threw it at the closest Beagle Boy, the largest in the room. The bottle shattered at the demon’s feet. Red smoke erupted, engulfing him. Two bottles flew after it and the red smoke filled the room. When it dissipated the Beagle Boys were gone.

“That was all three of them?” Donald asked, looking past Fethry.

“Yes,” Fethry said.

“Unless they suddenly started to travel in bigger groups,” Gladstone said.

“Then we continue,” Donald said.

“Further into the depths,” Fethry said.

It didn’t take much longer for them to reach a locked door. They paused at it. There were no windows for this room. Not exactly. At one point there had been, but they’d been heavily painted over. Now they were almost impossible to see through. Only a few chips in the paint here and there let them look in. And all of them did.

“I see them,” Fethry said.

“Me too,” Gladstone said.

“Alright.” Donald moved to the doorknob, unlocking it. Through the paint in the window Fethry saw Webby look up and over. She turned to the boys to say something. Then all but Louie turned to the door.

“Uncle Donald!” Huey’s voice was the first to sound from the room. Happy and relieved. The other’s repeated Huey’s exclamation both in words and emotion. Fethry could practically feel the relieved breath Donald released at it.

They piled into the room, one after another.

Three of the kids were on one side of the room, huddled close together. On the other side was Louie, tied loosely to the ceiling and sitting slumped against the wall. Donald immediately went to him while Fethry and Gladstone went to the others.

“He fell asleep pretty soon after he returned,” Huey said.

Gladstone nodded. “It’s always really tiring at first. It’ll get better as he gets used to it though.”

“Uncle Donald, the cuffs don’t have any keyholes,” Webby said as he untied Louie.

“What?” Donald looked back at her.

“She’s right.” Fethry looked around the handcuff on Huey the best he could. “There’s no keyholes. Or openings. Like their wrists had been dipped in liquid metal and left to dry.”

Gladstone soffed. “I got this.”

Donald looked warily at him, but Gladstone seemed confident. Not that there were many times he  _ didn’t _ seem confident. On the outside, at least. There was that glimmer of worry in him. Something Donald was sure only him, Della, and especially Fethry could see. It was in the way the quirk of his lip slightly wavered. How his hands seemed to minutely clench around nothing. He nodded and turned back to Louie.

“Alright kids,” Gladstone said. “Hold still.” He sat on his knees and lifted Webby’s wrists and subsequently the handcuffs up closer to him. Carefully he breathed on the metal. A cold gust of wind came from his beak. Light blue and cluttered with snow crystals. The metal froze on contact. Ice crisscrossed along the handcuff, cracking it in multiple places. Then he gently pulled her wrists apart. The brittle metal cracked more and pieces fell off in chunks before the whole cuff dropped to the ground, a hard ting echoing through the room. Webby smiled wide and turned to give him a hug. Surprised, Gladstone took a second before he hugged her back. After she let go he turned to Huey and Dewey.

By the time Gladstone had all three released from their magical binds, Fethry, Donald, Webby, and Louie were at the door. Donald had Louie safe in his arms. He was snoring calmly. Face pressed against Donald’s chest.

“Ready to get out of here?” Donald asked the kids.

“Please,” Huey said.

Donald laughed and all of them left the building together. Gladstone drove on the way home. Fethry was once again in the passenger seat and Donald sat in the back with the kids, Louie still asleep in his lap.

“I’m sorry,” Donald said. It was later in the night and he’d just put the kids to bed. All four of them were in the same room for the night.

Gladstone looked over in surprise. “Whatever for, Don?” He asked, though he knew what it was for. But he’d already forgiven Donald before they entered that building. When Donald gave his unspoken apology.

“For,” Donald sighed, rubbing his arm. “blaming you for the kids disappearing. Fethry was right, you’d never do that purposely and I know it. And for the jab at your luck.”

‘It’s fine,” Gladstone shook his head. “I forgave you hours ago.”

Donald frowned, always surprised at how forgiving his cousins could be. Not every time, especially with Gladstone, but so often they tended toward easy forgiveness. Though Gladstone normally seemed to forgive him before he could even actually say anything.

“Come on, Fethry’s watching something in the foyer.” Gladstone gestured with his head out the door.

With a sigh Donald rolled his eyes, but he joined Gladstone as he walked away to join Fethry.

“We should tell them,” Webby said into the darkness of the room.

“But we can’t,” Dewey said. “You heard what Lyla said.”

“Do you really think Uncle Donald would be that angry?” Huey asked.

There was silence for a moment. “Probably,” Webby said.

A second silence fell over them.

“Do you think Lyla will talk to us again?” Huey asked.

“I hope so!” Webby said. She turned to her stomach, bracing her elbows against her sleeping bag and resting her head against her palms. “I have so many  _ questions _ .”

“Of course you do,” Dewey said.

“Well don’t you?” Webby asked.

“Not really,” Dewey shrugged. “She’s an old friend of Uno. Doesn’t seem to be much there.”

“Yes,” Huey said slowly. “But  _ why _ is she watching us? Why isn’t Uno?”

“Maybe he died,” Dewey said.

“I don’t know, Uncle Donald seemed pretty upset when we asked him who Uno was,” Webby said, remembering when they’d asked about him a few months ago after Uncle Donald said his name when he’d almost died. “Uncle Fethry had to tell us he who he was.”

“Hm,” Dewey hummed.

“Maybe he has something to do with your mom!” Webby said.

Dewey moved to hang over the side of his bed. “You think?”

“Perhaps,” Huey said. There was no telling. Uncle Donald would never really tell them anything about their mother except that she was an excellent witch and she’d died before they had hatched. Whenever they really wanted anything they’d had to go to Uncle Gladstone or Uncle Fethry.

Both Webby and Dewey moved back to their previous positions. The three soon joined Louie in his slumber, Dewey and Webby much slower than Huey.


End file.
